Wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) ring passive optical network (PON) with route protection for replacement of splitter based passive optical networks

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for low cost upgrading on demand of an optical fiber communication system without installing additional optical fiber and minimal installation of optical circuitry at destination and distribution terminals. The upgraded systems comprise an optical data loop of a plurality of destination terminals and a single intermediate terminal.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/876,439, filed on Jun. 6, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,898,206, theentire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus associated withbroadband communications using optical fibers as the transmission media,and more specifically to methods and apparatus for on-demand upgradingof an existing optical network system with the capacity to serviceadditional subscribers with broadband digital service with noinstallation of additional optical fibers and minimal replacement ofexisting infrastructure.

The telecommunications industry is using more and more optical or lightfibers in lieu of copper wire. Optical fibers have an extremely highbandwidth thereby allowing the transmission of significantly moreinformation than can be carried by a copper wire. The carriedinformation includes broadband digital data carrying digital televisionsignals, computer data, etc.

Of course, modern telephone systems require bidirectional communicationswhere each station on a communication channel can both transmit andreceive. This is true, of course, whether the system uses electricalwiring or optical fibers as the transmission medium, and whether theinformation is simple analog voice or broadband digital signals. Earlytelephone communication systems solved this need by simply providingseparate copper wires for carrying the communications in each direction.Some early attempts at using optical fibers as a transmission mediumfollowed this example and also used two different optical fibers such asoptical fibers 10 and 10A in the prior art FIG. 1 for carrying thecommunications in each direction. As shown, in the prior art FIG. 1,fiber 10 is connected by an optical coupler 12 to an LED (light-emittingdiode) 14 at one end and by optical coupler 16 to a PD (photodetectiondiode) 18 at the other end. Similarly, but in reverse, fiber 10A isconnected by an optical coupler 16A to PD 18 at one end and by opticalcoupler 12A to LED 14 at the other end.

However, because of the extremely high bandwidths capable of beingtransmitted by an optical fiber, a single fiber is quite capable ofcarrying communications in both directions. One technique is WDM(wavelength divisional multiplexing) which is shown in the prior artFIG. 2 and uses different wavelengths for each direction of travel.Components in FIG. 2 and subsequent figures which operate the same asshown in FIG. 1 carry the same reference numbers. In the embodimentshown in FIG. 2, a central office 20 is connected to an immediate or RT(remote terminal) 22 by at least one pair of optical fibers 10B. Theremote terminal 22 may be further connected to a multiplicity ofdestination terminals by other pairs of optical fibers. As shown, thecentral office includes a light-emitting diode 14 optically connected tofiber optics 10 by optical coupler 12 for converting electrical signalsto optical signals and a photodetection diode 18A optically connected tooptical fiber 10A by a coupler 16A for converting optical signals toelectrical signals. The fiber optics 10 and fiber optics 10A are eachconnected to a wavelength division multiplexer 24 which in turn isconnected by optical coupler 26 to optical fiber 10B. This arrangementis duplicated at the RDT 22 by light-emitting diode 14A, photodetectiondiode 18, and wavelength division multiplexer 24A. It will, of course,be appreciated that although the figure is shown as providingcommunications between a central office 20 (station 1) and a remoteterminal office 22 (station 2) prior to being further distributed to amultiplicity of destinations, the communications system could be usedfor providing communications between any two types of stations, examplesinclude communication between two central offices, two remote terminaloffices, or between a remote office and an individual user's location,etc. A typical communications system using an LED (light-emitting diode)and a PD (photodiode) with a single optical fiber is disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 5,075,791 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Achieving Two-WayLong-Range Communication Over an Optical Fiber”, issued to Mark W.Hastings, and incorporated in its entirety hereby by reference.

Yet another technique for using a single optical fiber 10 for telephonesystems is illustrated in the prior art FIG. 3. The illustrated figureis referred to as TCM (time compression multiplexing). The systemoperates at a single frequency and uses a single optical fiber 10 and asingle diode 30 and 30A at each end connected by optical couplers 32 and32A, respectively, for both converting electrical signals to opticalsignals and for receiving optical signals and converting those opticalsignals to electrical signals. TCM systems have the obvious advantage ofrequiring fewer components.

Still other and more advanced systems carry telephony communication(either analog or digital) at one wavelength of light and televisionsignals (digital and/or analog) at another wavelength.

However, as mentioned above, optical fibers have extremely highbandwidths and use of an optical fiber for any of the above-mentionedexisting systems is a very ineffective use of the fiber and, in fact,the available bandwidth of an optical fiber makes it possible to useboth active and passive optical transmission techniques which can beused to carry a significantly-increased number of individualbidirectional broadband communication channels or signals.

Of course, where early types of optical transmission systems have beeninstalled, it is desirable to limit the time the operation of suchsystems is disrupted. Further, once an early type fiber-optic telephonesystem is installed, wholesale removal and replacement with a new systemwould normally be prohibitive from a cost point of view. Therefore, itwould be advantageous to be able to upgrade on a demand basis anexisting fiber-optic system to also carry a significantly increasednumber of broadband communication channels.

Disclosed herein is a system for communicating optical data to and froman optical distribution terminal having an optical communication deviceincluding an optical fiber data output and an optical fiber data input.The system includes a plurality of remote optical interface unitsdefining at least a first remote optical interface unit and a lastremote optical interface unit. Each remote optical interface unit has anoptical fiber data input and an optical fiber data output. The opticalfiber data input of the first remote optical interface unit and theoptical fiber data output of the last remote optical interface unit arerespectively configured to be connected to the optical fiber data outputand the optical fiber data input of the optical communication device.The remaining optical fiber data inputs of the plurality of remoteoptical interface units are connected to the remaining optical fiberdata outputs of the plurality of remote optical interface units.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features of the present invention will be more fully disclosed whentaken in conjunction with the following Detailed Description of thePreferred Embodiment(s) in which like numerals represent like elementsand in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art fiber optical communicationsystem using two fibers to obtain bidirectional communication;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another prior art bidirectional fiber-opticcommunication system using a single transmission fiber having alight-emitting diode and a photodetection diode at each end of thefiber;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a prior art fiber optical communicationsystem using a single fiber and a single transmit/receive diode at eachend suitable for TCM;

FIG. 4 is a schematic of a prior art Passive Optical Fiber distributionnetwork suitable for being upgraded by the teachings of this invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a first embodiment of the invention for upgrading theoptical network of FIG. 4 to an active optical network with minimal newequipment and without the installation of additional optical fibers.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged illustration of how the optical loop is formedbetween BOIU 66 and 68 and the corresponding pairs of optical fibers 50and 52.

FIG. 7 illustrates another embodiment of the invention wherein the priorart passive optical system is upgraded to handle a large number ofbroadband subscribers by using 4 wavelengths of light, but continues tooperate as a passive optical system.

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate how the route protection switches operate soas to limit the number of customers or subscribers affected in the eventof a failure of an OIU in one of the destination terminals of either ofthe embodiments shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

FIG. 9 illustrates the operation of the Route Protection switches whichprotect the system in the event the primary optical fiber failurebetween the intermediate terminal and the central office.

FIG. 10 illustrates an upgrade similar to that of FIG. 7 but uses onlytwo wavelengths of light and an additional pair of optical fibersbetween the intermediate terminal and the primary terminal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown a bidirectional, passive opticalnetwork system. Elements of the system similar to elements discussedwith respect to the prior art system of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 carry commonreference numbers. As shown, there is provided an intermediatedistribution terminal 22 which is connected to optical communicationequipment 40 at central office 20 by at least one primary pair ofoptical fibers 42, and preferably by two primary pairs of optical fibers42 and 44. It is not uncommon for a spare pair of optical fibers toextend between an intermediate distribution terminal and a centraloffice. Intermediate distribution terminal 22 is shown as including anoptical splitter device 46 connected to one of the optical fibers 42 aof fiber pair 42 and an optical combining device 48 connected to theother fiber 42 b of fiber pair 42. It should also be noted that,although the pair of fibers 42 are illustrated in the figure with thetwo individual fibers 42 a and 42 b traveling together in a commonsheath, such an arrangement, although common, is not necessary. The twoindividual fibers could be completely separate and independent of eachother. All that is necessary is that the two separate fibers start andend at the same location. As indicated in FIG. 4, optical splitterdevice 46 and optical combining device 48 may typically be deviceshaving a ratio of 32:1. That is, the devices either receive light fromor transmit light to thirty-two optical fibers, and this received ortransmitted light is carried by a single fiber after either being splitor combined, whichever is appropriate. For example, splitter 46 receiveslight carrying information from fiber 42 a of fiber pair 42 and splitsthe light into, for example only, thirty-two portions which are coupledto one of the fibers of thirty-two different pairs of fibers such aspairs 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62 and 64 between intermediate terminal 22and thirty-two destination terminals such as the thirty-two OIUs(optical interface unit), 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78 and 80 found inthirty-two destination terminals at thirty-two different locations.Likewise, combining device 48 located in intermediate terminal 22receives light from the thirty-two OIUs on the other fiber of each ofthe fiber pairs 50 through 64, combines the received light and couplesit to the single fiber 42 b of fiber pair 42 such that it is transmittedto optical communication equipment 40 at central office 20. Thus, in theexample shown in FIG. 4, there are thirty-two separate OIUs which may beinstalled at thirty-two distinct and separate locations including OIU 66through 80 which are connected by one of the fibers of each of thethirty-two pairs of optical fibers 50 through 64 to the optical splitterdevice 46 in intermediate terminal 22. The thirty-two OIUs are alsoconnected by the other fiber of each pair to the optical combining orcoupler unit 48 which is also located in intermediate terminal 22. Itwill appreciated that the thirty-two OIUs, the thirty-two pairs ofcorresponding optical fibers and the 32:1 splitter unit 46 and 32:1combining unit 48 represents a typical prior art passive optical networksystem. Also, as was discussed above with respect to individual fibers42 a and 42 b which make up pair 42, it is not necessary that theindividual fibers of the pairs 50 through 64 or any other pair ofoptical fibers discussed herein, run side by side in a common sheath. Itis only necessary that the individual fibers in a pair start andterminate at the same locations. Other prior art systems may useequipment which supports a number of destination terminals andcorresponding pairs of optical fibers which is different thanthirty-two.

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown a first embodiment wherein anexisting passive optical network such as was discussed with respect toFIG. 4 is suitable for being upgraded to an active optical networksystem for carrying broadband data signals. Those elements of FIG. 5which are the same as those discussed with respect to FIG. 4 continue tocarry the same reference numbers. As shown, a primary pair of opticalfibers 42 having individual fibers 42 a and 42 b extends between opticalequipment 40 in the central office 20, and optical to electricalconversion equipment 82 in the intermediate distribution terminal 22.Also similar to the optical network system shown in FIG. 4, there areincluded thirty-two corresponding pairs of optical fibers (including therepresentative eight pairs of optical fibers 50 through 64) which extendbetween intermediate terminal 22 and thirty-two separate destinationterminals, each of which in the embodiment of FIG. 5 contains a BOIU(broadband optical interface unit) such as represented by BOIUs 66 a, 68a, 70 a, 72 a, 74 a, 76 a, 78 a and 80 a. In addition tooptical/electrical data converting equipment 82 located in intermediateterminal 22, there are also included optical communication units such asunits 84 and 86 each of which includes an output optical connector 88and an input optical connector 90.

As was discussed above with respect to FIG. 4, a pair of optical fibersextend between the intermediate terminal 22 and each of the BOIUs 66 athrough 80 a. As an example, the pair of optical fibers 50 include afirst fiber 92 and second fiber 94, and as a further example, and onlyfor convenience, the first fiber 92 is shown carrying light from tointermediate terminal 22 to BOIU 66 a whereas the second fiber 94 isshown carrying light in the opposite direction from the BOIU 66 a tointermediate terminal 22.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown a more detailed illustration ofthe connections between the optical equipment 84, fiber optical pairs 50and 52 and the BOIU 66 a and BOIU 68 a. As shown, the first fiber 92 ofoptical pair 50 includes a “first” optical connector at the intermediateend of fiber 92 such as optical connector 96 at the end of optical fiber92 which terminates in intermediate terminal 22. There is also includedoptical connector 98 on the destination terminal end of fiber 92 whichterminates at BOIU 66 a. Likewise, the second optical fiber 94 includesa “second” connector on the intermediate terminal 22 end of fiber 94such as optical connector 100 at the end of optical fiber 94 and opticalconnector 102 on the other end which terminates at BOIU 66 a. It is alsonoted that BOIU 66 a includes an input optical connector 104 and anoutput optical connector 106 which are connected to optical connectors98 and 102, respectively. Likewise, the optical pair 52 which extendsbetween BOIU 68 a and intermediate terminal 22 also includes a firstoptical fiber 108 having a “first” optical connector 110 at the end offiber 108 which terminates in intermediate terminal 22 and an opticalconnector 112 at the end of fiber 108 which terminates at BOIU 68 a.Similarly, the second optical fiber 114 of optical pair 52 includes a“second” optical connector 116 on the end which terminates atintermediate terminal 22 and optical connector 118 on the end of opticalfiber 114 which terminates at the BOIU 68 a. In the same manner as theBOIU 66 a, BOIU 68 a also includes an input terminal 120 and an outputterminal 122.

Therefore, referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, it is seen that lightwavescarrying data information is provided at connector 88 of opticalequipment 84. When optical connector 96 of fiber 92 is connected tooptical connector 88 of optical equipment 84, light is provided from theunit 84 through the “first” optical fiber 92 to the BOIU 66 a throughconnector 98 on fiber 92 to input optical connector 104 on BOIU 66 a. Aswill be appreciated by those skilled in the art, data carried on “first”optical fiber 92 which is appropriate for or “addressed to” BOIU 66 awill be extracted from the traveling lightwaves and put in suitableformat for further transmission or use. In addition to extracting datafrom the light coming into BOIU 66 on optical fiber 92, BOIU 66 a alsoinserts new data onto the light traveling through the unit which exitsBOIU 66 a on connector 106 to connector 102 and onto “second” fiber 94of pair 50. Thus, new data inserted by BOIU 66 a is now carried on“second” fiber 94 to connector 100 located in intermediate terminal 22.However, it is noticed that connector 100 is not connected to theoptical equipment 84, but is instead connected to the “first” opticalconnector 110 on another “first” optical fiber 108 of fiber pair 52.Then, in the same manner as was discussed above with respect to BOIU 66a, light on “first” fiber 108 is connected through connector 112 at thedestination terminal end to input connector 120 on BOIU 68 a where theappropriate data for BOIU 68 a is extracted and new data is injectedonto the light and then the light is transmitted back out of outputconnector 122 on BOIU 68 a to connector 118 of “second” fiber 114 ofoptical pair 52 to “second” connector 116 at the intermediate terminalend of optical fiber 114. “Second” optical connector 116 is thenconnected to a first optical connector on a first optical fiber ofoptical fiber pair 54 which extends from intermediate terminal 22 toBOIU 70 a. After the data is extracted from the light on the first fiberof optical pair 54 and any new data is inserted onto the light travelingto the second fiber of optical pair 54, it is again routed back to theintermediate terminal 22 and then to the first fiber of optical pair 56to BOIU 72 a. The light coming from the output of BOIU 72 a againtravels back to the intermediate terminal 22 on the second fiber of pair56 wherein the second fiber of optical pair 56 has a “second” connectorat the intermediate end connected to the input terminal 90 of opticalequipment 84. Thus, it is seen that there has been described atransmission loop which extends initially from the output connector 88of optical equipment 84 through BOIU 66 a back to intermediate terminal22 then out to BOIU 68 a back to intermediate terminal 22 then out toBOIU 70 a then back to intermediate terminal 22 and then to BOIU 72 aand back to intermediate terminal 22 where it is connected to the inputterminal 90 of optical equipment 84.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, there are a plurality of unitssimilar to optical equipment 84, each of which is connected to atransmission loop with four separate BOIUs in the same manner as justdiscussed. For example, electrical equipment 86 in intermediate terminal22 is part of the transmission loop made up by BOIU 74 a, 76 a, 78 a and80 a along with corresponding optical fiber pairs 58, 60, 62 and 64. Itwill also be appreciated, that although in the embodiment discussed,there are four BOIUs for every piece of optical equipment inintermediate terminal 86, the number of BOIUs could be greater or lessthan four. It will also, of course, be appreciated that there areelectrical connections between the optical to electrical equipment 82and the optical equipment 84 and 86. Thus, there has been described atransmission path wherein a plurality of BOIU units are connected to asingle piece of optical equipment at the intermediate terminal 22 bymeans of a serial transmission loop. As will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art, it would be possible that a single communicationchannel could be handled by each of the BOIU units or a large number ofchannels could be handled. When the equipment is initially installed, asmaller number of channels would be handled by each BOIU unit in atransmission loop and as new customers request service, the number ofchannels handled by each BOIU unit in the loop could increase.Eventually the number of channels being serviced by each BOIU unit couldincrease to such a level that optical equipment unit 84 at theintermediate terminal 22 could no longer handle the volume. In such acase, one of the BOIU units may necessarily have to be taken out of theloop so that there might be only three BOIU units in the loop because ofthe increased traffic. The BOIU unit taken out of the overloadedtransmission loop would then be combined into another transmission loopand perhaps with a new piece of optical equipment similar to that ofoptical equipment 84. It should be noted that each of the optical fiberpairs 50 through 56 are handling four times the number of channelsbecause of the serial transmission loop than would be handled by eachpair if each BOIU unit went to a separate piece of optical equipmentsuch as optical equipment 84. Thus, it can be seen that as more and moreservice is demanded and added at the BOIU units, it is a simple matterto rearrange the transmission loops and add equipment only as it isneeded.

FIG. 7 illustrate two embodiments for upgrading an optical system whichdoes not require active elements, and only incorporates passive elementsat the intermediate or remote distribution terminal. For example,instead of the active elements 82, 84 and 86 which converted data fromoptical signals to electrical signals and from electrical signals tooptical signals, and as was discussed with respect to FIGS. 5 and 6, theembodiment of FIG. 7 use passive elements such as an opticalcoupler/splitter to combine various wavelengths of light arriving on aplurality of optical fibers such that all of the optical signals can becarried on a single optical fiber. Similarly, an opticalcoupler/splitter with CWDM (continuous wave division multiplexing) maybe used to separate the different wavelengths of light carrying thevarious signals, one each onto a plurality of different optical fibers.As an example only, a single fiber may be used to carry light having awavelength of 1,310 nanometers as is typically used for telephonyservice as well as four different wavelengths, such as 1,510, 1,530,1,550 and 1,570 rather than a single nominal wavelength of 1,550nanometers.

More specifically, and as shown in FIG. 7, central office 20 isconnected to intermediate or remote distribution terminal 22 by at leasttwo primary optical fibers such as optical fiber pair 42 which hasindividual fibers 42 a and 42 b. Intermediate terminal 22 is alsoconnected to a plurality (such as thirty-two) of BOIU (broadband opticalinterface unit) by a like plurality of pairs of optical fibers. Itshould be noted that BOIU terminals 130 and 132 represent the first andeighth BOIUs forming a first optical loop of eight different BOIUs. Theloop is connected by a corresponding eight pairs of optical fibers asrepresented by optical fiber pairs 134 and 136 in the same manner as theloop of four different BOIUs discussed with respect to FIGS. 5 and 6.Similarly, the ninth BOIU 138 and the sixteenth BOIU 140, along with afirst optical fiber pair 142 and an eighth optical fiber pair 144represent a second optical loop of eight additional BOIUs and theircorresponding eight pairs of optical fibers.

Likewise, the seventeenth BOIU 146 and the twenty-fourth BOIU 148, alongwith the seventeenth and twenty-fourth pairs of optical fibers 150 and152, respectively, represent a third optical loop of eight BOIUs.Finally, the twenty-fifth and thirty-second BOIUs 154 and 156,respectively, with their corresponding pairs of optical fibers 158 and160 represent a fourth optical data loop. In the example as shown, eachof the four optical data loops carry light at slightly differentwavelengths. For example, in the embodiment shown the optical loops 1,2, 3 and 4 operate at 1,510, 1,530, 1,550 and 1,570 nanometers of light,respectively.

As shown in FIG. 7, intermediate or remote distribution terminal 22 alsoincludes an optical combination device or coupler 162 having its outputside optically connected to optical fiber 42 a of optical pair 42. Alsoas shown, the four inputs of optical coupler 162 are fibers 134 a fromoptical fiber pair 134, optical fiber 142 a from fiber pair 142, opticalfiber 150 a from fiber pair 150 and optical fiber 158 a from fiber pair150. Thus, it is seen that each of the four serial transmission loopshas an input to the optical coupling device 162. In a similar manner,there is an optical separation or splitter 164 in combination with afour-way optical filter 166. The splitter/coupler 164 has its input 168connected to optical fiber 42 b of optical fiber 42. Each of the fouroutputs are connected to one output of the four-way filter 166 and arein turn connected one each to the last fiber of each of the four loops.For example, fiber 136 b from the first loop is connected to the filter166 and then to splitter/coupler 164 and the optical fiber 144 b fromthe second optical loop is also connected to filter 166 and then tocoupler 164. Likewise, optical fiber 152 b from the third optical loopand optical fiber 160 b from the fourth optical loop are connectedthrough the filter 166 to the splitter/coupler 164. Thus, it is seenthat by using a 4:1 splitter/couplers 162 and 164, and by putting eightBOIUs in each loop, all thirty-two of the BOIUs can be serviced.

It should also be noted that there is a route protection switch such asswitches 170 and 172 located between each of the BOIUs and theircorresponding fiber optical pair. For example, protection switch 170 islocated between BOIU 130 and optical pair 134. Likewise, routeprotection switch 172 is located between BOIU 132 and optical pair 136.The purpose of the route protection switches is that in the event asingle BOIU, such as for example BOIU 130, were to fail, the routeprotection switch would operate to bypass that BOIU such that only thecustomers or subscribers associated with and receiving service throughBOIU 30 would lose service. The fault protection switch simply bypassesBOIU 130 and couples the optical signal directly from the optical fiber134 a to optical fiber 134 b of the optical pair 134. FIGS. 8A and 8Billustrate the normal light path and the fault light path, respectively,through the fault protection switches. Thus, the seven remaining BOIUscan continue to cover and provide service without interruption.

Also as shown, control office 20 includes an optical splitter/coupler174 in combination with a CWDM filter 176 connected to optical fiber 42a of pair 42. Similarly, optical coupler/splitter 178 connected tooptical fiber 42 b of pair 42. Also as shown, there are four opticalreceivers and four optical transmitters such as receiver 180 andtransmitter 182. Each of the four receivers and transmitters are forreceiving and transmitting light having one of the four differentwavelengths. Thus, each receiver such as receiver 180 is coupled to thewave division multiplexer filter 176 such that only light of the properwavelength is directed to the proper receiver. Similarly, eachtransmitter is connected to optical coupler 178.

In an alternate embodiment, there may be a second pair 184 of primaryfibers made up of fibers 184 a and 184 b. In the event there are twopairs of fibers extending between the intermediate or remotedistribution terminal 22 in the central office 20, redundancy may beprovided such that if a fiber in the first primary pair 42 were to becut or otherwise damaged, a fiber in the second fiber pair 184 can takeover. This is accomplished by a pair of route protection switches 186and 188 which are connected so that if, for example, fiber 42 a of pair42 were to be damaged or separated, switch 186 would activate such thatthe input of the optical coupler/splitter 174 would be connected tooptical fiber 184 a of fiber pair 184 rather than fiber 42 a of pair 42.Likewise, if optical fiber 42 b were to be severed or damaged, thenswitch 188 would activate such that the output of optical coupler 178 isrouted to fiber 184 b of pair 184 rather than to optical fiber 42 b ofpair 42. FIG. 9 illustrates the normal and fault positions of the routeprotection switches. It should be also be noted, however, that thisalternate embodiment also requires that the optical coupler/splitter 162and 164 discussed with respect to intermediate terminal 22 should havetwo outputs rather than a single output as was discussed before. Thatis, the optical coupler/splitters should be a 4:2 rather than a 4:1splitter/coupler. Thus, it is seen there has been described a method ofusing existing fiber optical pairs to upgrade a system to a passivesystem with minimal change of equipment and no additional fibersrequired to be installed.

Referring now to FIG. 10, there is shown still another alternateembodiment of the present invention where only two single wavelengths oflight 1,550 and 1,310 are used. It is noted that the four optical loopsare substantially the same as discussed with respect to FIG. 6. However,instead of a single pair 42 of fibers 42 a and 42 b, the primary opticalfiber bundle 186 is not made up of two fibers but is made up of fourfibers 186 a, 186 b, 186 c and 186 d. Further, if there is to beredundancy of the primary fiber 186, it will be necessary to include asecond four-fiber bundle 188 made up of fibers 188 a, 188 b, 188 c and188 d. In such an arrangement, it is not necessary to use the CWDMfilters; it is only necessary to use a 2×2 optical coupler/splitter asindicated by optical coupler/splitters 190, 192, 194 and 196 inintermediate terminal 22, and 2×2 optical coupler/splitter 198, 200, 202and 204 in central office. Thus, in this arrangement, there is a fiberdedicated for each of the terminal loops each of which carries eightBOIUs. Likewise at the central office 20 in end of fibers 186 and 188,each of the fibers are connected to its own receiver and transmitter,such as receiver 206 and transmitter 208. To achieve redundancy in theevent of a primary fiber bundle failure in this embodiment, there isalso included four route protection switches such as switch 210 whichoperate similarly to the switches 186 and 187 with respect to FIG. 7above. Thus, in the event of one of the primary fibers of optical bundle186, the appropriate switch, such as switch 210, would switch positionssuch that the information is now routed through the appropriate fiber offiber bundle 188 and then back to its appropriate optical splitter 190.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed.

1. A system for communicating optical data to and from an optical distribution terminal having an optical communication device including an optical fiber data output and an optical fiber data input, comprising: a plurality of remote optical interface units defining at least a first remote optical interface unit and a last remote optical interface unit, each remote optical interface unit having an optical fiber data input and an optical fiber data output, wherein: the optical fiber data input of the first remote optical interface unit and the optical fiber data output of the last remote optical interface unit are respectively configured to be connected to the optical fiber data output and the optical fiber data input of the optical communication device; the remaining optical fiber data inputs of the plurality of remote optical interface units are connected to the remaining optical fiber data outputs of the plurality of remote optical interface units; and a plurality of route protection switches, each route protection switch associated with a corresponding remote optical interface unit and configured to bypass the remote optical interface unit in the event of either a data input failure or a data output failure associated with the remote optical interface unit.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical communication device in the optical distribution terminal comprises a splitter configured to communicate optical data over a plurality of light wavelengths, the splitter having an optical fiber data output and an optical fiber data input associated with each light wavelength, and wherein the plurality of remote optical interface units are associated with one of the light wavelengths.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical communication device in the optical distribution terminal comprises a wavelength division multiplexer configured to communicate optical data over a plurality of light wavelengths, and wherein the plurality of remote optical interface units comprise wavelength division multiplexers.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the optical interface units comprise broadband optical interface units.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical communication device is connected to a central optical device by a primary optical channel and a secondary optical channel, and wherein the central optical device comprises a central route protection switch configured to route data communication between the optical communication device and the central optical device over either the primary optical channel or the secondary optical channel depending on a failure state of the primary optical channel.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the optical fiber data inputs and optical fiber data outputs of the plurality of remote optical interface units are connected to first ends of corresponding fiber optic cables, and second ends of the corresponding fiber optic cables are connected within the optical distribution terminal.
 7. A system for communicating optical data, comprising: an optical distribution terminal having an optical communication device defining a plurality of optical communication loops and an optical fiber data output and an optical fiber data input associated with each optical communication loop; a plurality of remote optical interface units associated with each optical communication loop and defining at least a first remote optical interface unit and a last remote optical interface unit, each remote optical interface unit having an optical fiber data input and an optical fiber data output, the optical fiber data input of the first remote optical interface unit and the optical fiber data output of the last remote optical interface unit respectively connected to the optical fiber data output and the optical fiber data input of the optical communication device associated with the optical communication loop, the remaining optical fiber data inputs of the plurality of remote optical interface units connected to the remaining optical fiber data outputs of the plurality of remote optical interface units; and a plurality of route protection switches, each route protection switch associated with a corresponding remote optical interface unit and configured to bypass the remote optical interface unit in the event of either a data input failure or a data output failure associated with the remote optical interface unit.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the optical communication device in the optical distribution terminal comprises a splitter configured to communication optical data over a plurality of light wavelengths and each channel is defined by a light wavelength.
 9. The system of claim 7, wherein the optical communication device in the optical distribution terminal comprises a wavelength division multiplexer configured to communicate optical data over a plurality of light wavelengths, and wherein each channel communicates wavelength division multiplexed data.
 10. The system of claim 7, wherein each of the optical interface units comprise broadband optical interface units.
 11. The system of claim 7, wherein the optical communication device is connected to a central optical device by a primary optical channel and a secondary optical channel, and wherein the central optical device comprises a central route protection switch configured to route data communication between the optical communication device and the central optical device over either the primary optical channel or the secondary optical channel depending on a failure state of the primary optical channel.
 12. A method of communicating optical data between a plurality of remote optical communication units and an optical distribution terminal having an optical communication device, comprising: interconnecting optical fiber data inputs of a plurality of remote optical interface units to optical fiber data outputs of the plurality of remote optical interface units; connecting an optical fiber data input of one of the remote optical interface units to an optical fiber data output of the optical communication device; connecting an optical fiber data output of another one of the remote optical interface units to an optical fiber data input of the optical communication device; monitoring each of the plurality of remote optical interface units for a failure condition; and bypassing a remote optical interface unit in the event of a monitored failure condition of the remote optical interface unit.
 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: defining a plurality of optical data channels; and performing the interconnecting optical fiber data inputs, connecting an optical fiber data input of one of the remote optical interface units, and connecting an optical fiber data output of another one of the remote optical interface units for each of the plurality of optical data channels.
 14. The method of claim 12, further comprising transmitting wavelength division multiplexed data over the plurality of remote optical interface units.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein interconnecting optical fiber data inputs of a plurality of remote optical interface units to optical fiber data outputs in the plurality of remote optical interface units comprises: connecting the optical fiber data inputs and optical fiber data outputs of the plurality of remote optical interface units to first ends of corresponding fiber optic cables; and connecting the second ends of the corresponding fiber optic cables within the optical distribution terminal. 